Gun



April 20, 1937 w. E. HOUSE GUN Filed July 26, 1935 Inventor Ev M /i7m% I W11l1am E Hausa AIiCII'TLE Patented Apr. 20, 1937 V PATENTOFFIQE GUN William E. House, United States Army,

Auburndale, Fla.

Application July 26, 1935, Serial No. 33,334

3 Claims.

(Grantedunder the act of March 3, 1883, as

amended April 30, 1928'; 370 0. G. 757) The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

5 The subject of this invention is a gun and the invention is intended to so modify the Browning machine gun that the barrel may be held stationary to facilitate air cooling thereof.

The main object of the invention is to hold the barrel of a gun stationary while permitting the breech block and the barrel extension to perform their usual recoiling movements.

These objects are attained by separating the front portion of the barrel extension into which 19 the barrel fastens from the remainder of the extension and securing it to the receiver and attaching a gas operated piston and rod to the barrel extension The piston arranged to have the same amplitude of recoil as was originally 20 had by the barrel.

7 With the foregoing and other objects in view, as may more fully appear, the invention resides in the novel arrangement and combination of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

A practical embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, where- Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a gun constructed in accordance with the invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the lock.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the lock showing the gun in recoil.

Referring to the drawing by numerals of ref- 40 erence:

The gun consists of standard parts of the Browning machine gun having the receiver l, barrel 2, bolt 3 and barrel extension 4 which has been modified by cutting off and enlarging the forward end 5 into which the breech end of the barrel is threaded and making the portion fast in the receiver by rivets or in other suitable manner. The remainder of the barrel extension has added thereto a projection 6 which underlies the member 5.

The projection 6 is slotted at l to receive a sliding lock 8 apertured to provide cam surfaces 9-9 adapted to cooperate with a cam Ill fast on a piston rod II which enters a bore l2 formed in the projection 6 and communicating with the slot 1. The rear counterbored end of the bore I 2 receives a coiled spring [3 which surrounds the projecting end of the piston rod l I and acts to retain the lock in elevated position.

The piston [4 carried on the forward end of 5 the rod ll works in a cylinder [5 secured to the forward end of the barrel 2 and adapted to receive gases from the barrel through a port I6 and to exhaust such gases through a port I! so sit- ,uated that the recoil of the piston and rod will 0 cause a recoil in the barrel extension of the same amplitude as that formerly imparted to such part by the recoil of the barrel.

The lock 8 in its elevated position extends into a recess [8 to lock the barrel extension to the 15 member 5. l

The operation is as follows: When the gun is fired, gases escaping through port It enter the cylinder l5 and cause the piston l4 and rod H to move rearwardly. This movement causes the cam Ill to act on the lower cam face 9 of the lock 8 and cam the lock downwardly to unlock the parts. The barrel extension is then free to be moved rearwardly by the piston rod carrying and disconnecting the bolt for continued movement in the usual manner.

As soon as the piston passes the exhaust port ll, the gas in the cylinder is free to escape and no further pressure is exerted on the piston so that the recoil of the barrel extension is the same as that for which it was originally designed in the Browning gun.

During the operation of firing, the heavy alujacket' which is in intimate contact with the barrel dissipates the heat generated with sufiicient rapidity to keep the barrel at a temperature below that which would prove injurious to the barrell I claim:

1. The combination with a gun including a receiver, a barrel extension in the receiver mounted for relative movement with respect to said barrel, a bolt in the receiver, of a member fast in the receiver, a barrel threaded in said member, a projection on the barrel extension below said member, a lock carried by the extension for looking the projection to the member, a cam for actuating the lock and imparting motion to the barrel extension, and ages operated piston connected tothe cam. 50

2. The combination with a gun including a receiver, a barrel extension in the receiver mounted for relative movement with respect to said barrel, a bolt actuated in recoil by the barrel extension, of a member fast in the receiver pro- 55 10 for admitting gas pressure to said piston.

3. In a gun, a receiver, a barrel fixed in the receiver, a member mounted for limited reciprocal movement in the receiver, an independently reciprocable reooil actuated bolt carried by said member and coupled to and uncoupled from said member during its forward and rearward movement, means carried by said member for locking it to the receiver, and a gas operated piston for unlocking the locking means and moving said member rearwardly.

WILLIAM E. HOUSE. 

